An anniversary

Exactly 50 years ago today, I started my first job after leaving school.  It was with Lloyds Bank, and I chose them over another offer I had from NatWest as they wanted to employ me in my home town, whereas the Lloyds job was away from home.  Not far away, but too far to travel each day so I got to leave home.  All the accounts were due to go 'on the computer' two weeks after I started so there was no point in me learning the old ledger card systems, consequently my first two weeks of employment entailed sitting in the stationery room stamping the branch stamp onto all the new computer stationery (all changes to an account had to be done by filling in a computer input form and sending it off somewhere).  Thinking back, some of the staff in the branch were a bit like the cast of 'Dad's Army'; the manager was a real 'Captain Mainwaring' type, the elderly Chief Cashier was a bit like Private Godfrey (I call him elderly; he was probably younger than I am now), and the Securities Clerk was definitely Sergeant Wilson.  There was Brian; Brian was a 'late entrant' having started with the bank in his 40's after time in the RAF;  he was a really friendly and kind bloke, but a bit of a bible basher so best to avoid meeting him in the staff room unless you fancied a sermon.  There were three Shielas (and I don't mean that in the Australian sense), one of which was a ruddy faced farmer's daughter who took a bit of a shine to me, there was June (known as 'Aunty June' because she was really old and unmarried - she must have been almost 30! We suspected there was a man on the scene somewhere though) and there was Gill.  Gill was tall, blond, beautiful, way out of my league, and the farmers who came in to do their banking on market day always complained if she didn't serve them at the counter.  And then there was me.  Private Pike?  You decide.

I changed employers twice during my career and had the good fortune never to be out of work, going straight from one job to another and lasting 36 years with my final one.  I doubt many people would last that long with an employer nowadays or even want to, for that matter.  Today we were in Wymondham which unusually, for a small town, seems to have all four 'big' banks so I thought this shot of Lloyds next to the tourist office was appropriate for today.  I've added three extras; I rather liked the curve of Bridewell Street leading out of the main square, the very attractive Green Dragon pub, and Henry the Hare.